


Leftover Words

by neaf



Category: Glee RPF
Genre: Crossover, Fluff, Friendship, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-10
Updated: 2013-04-10
Packaged: 2017-12-08 02:04:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 5,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/755706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neaf/pseuds/neaf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of short stories, mostly not relating to each other. Just moments here and there from fiction.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Good Morning

**Author's Note:**

> Forewarning, this one is so fluffy it's practically unicorn vomit.

Chris stopped his playful exploring when Darren snuffled and shifted on his pillow.

“Good morning,” he said gently.

Darren jolted, shifting around frantically until his hands connected with skin. His face fell into relief as he sighed, and relaxed down into the bedding. “You’re still here,” he mumbled gratefully.

Chris laughed. “Of course I’m still here. Where else would I be?”

Embarrassed, Darren chuckled breathily, eyes closed and face pressed down into the pillow as his brain stuttered into consciousness. “I don’t know,” he uttered, voice gravelly. “I just…”

Chris pursed his lips, brows drawing together in curiosity. “You just… what?”

“When I’m asleep,” Darren said carefully, not opening his eyes. “I miss you in my dreams.”


	2. Imitations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chris and Darren watch Star Wars together.

“I always wanted that gun, man,” Darren mumbled as he watched Han Solo draw beneath the table.

Chris rolled his head sideways against the back of the couch, peering at Darren in the dark. “Not a lightsaber?”

“Well yeah. But it was all about Han, for me, and his,” Darren waved a hand in emphasis. “Intergalactic… space… badassery. Plus, he had Chewie.”

Chris pondered for a moment, and a sly smile crept across his face. “You can do the noise, can’t you?”

Darren blushed and picked at his popcorn. “I… well,” he grinned shyly, and shrugged. “Maybe I worked on a bit when I was a kid, but who didn’t?”

Chris grinned and bounced in his seat, curling a leg up on the couch as he turned towards his roommate. “Oh, see now you _have_ to do it.”

“What? No!” Darren was laughing, embarrassed. “Let’s just … watch the movie.”

“Do it!” Chris pulled his hand from his popcorn bowl and flicked some at Darren’s head. “Do it, do it, do it. You know I’m not gonna leave you alone until you do.”

Darren huffed out a laugh and picked the popcorn from his hair. “Fine, fine…” he took a deep breath, chuckled, and rolled his eyes. “The things I do for you, seriously.”

Chris scrunched his fists up, shaking them in delight. “Alright, alright. Go.”

With one last fond head-shake, Darren managed his best Chewbacca impersonation, sending Chris doubling over in fits of giggles and popcorn flying everywhere.

He eyed his friend (who had slid off the couch and was now rolling on the floor) fondly, and sighed. “Okay, that was totally worth it.”


	3. Similar Interests

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chris and Darren meet Bradley James and Colin Morgan from _Merlin_.

“Are they still going?” Bradley asked in disbelief, sliding up beside Chris and narrowing his eyes at their two friends. 

“Still going,” Chris confirmed, arms folded but eyes lit up in amusement.

Bradley watched them for a moment, taking in Darren’s excited, bouncing gestures as he enthused about yet another band Bradley hadn’t heard of, and Colin’s ear to ear grin as he nodded frantically at every word.

“I keep waiting for one of them to actually take a breath.” Chris shook his head, incredulous.

A small smiled curved at the edge of Bradley’s mouth. “You know, between _his_ cheekbones,” he pointed to Colin, and then Darren, “and _his_ eyebrows, I keep waiting for Ian McKellen to pop out of the bushes and ask me to take the one ring into Mordor.”

Chris clapped a hand over his own mouth, stifling his laughter.

“I just keep thinking, don’t ask me, mate, I’ve got the aim of a four-year-old and a pretty solid fear of molten lava.”


	4. Seeing Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Interview fic set after Original Song.

**Interviewer:** We’ve got one question about the kiss. Some viewers wanted to know if there were any blooper reel moments?

 **Both:** [exchanged glance / laughter]

 **CC:** Well we did the first kiss.

 **DC:** They got a lot of coverage on that.

 **CC:** A lot. We did that most of the morning, there were a lot of takes from a lot of different angles. And then of course they ended up using the first take.

 **DC:** They did?

 **CC:** Yeah, no, it was. ‘Cause of the [gestures with his hand].

 **DC:** I did not know that.

 **CC:** The things you learn.

 **DC:** Mmm.

 **CC:** But then we moved on to shoot the second kiss. And I mean they told us - the directions actually were that Blaine and Kurt rushed at each other. It was supposed to be very passionate.

 **DC:** They wanted to get the feeling I think like they just _had_ to kiss each other again. Because they could now.

 **CC:** Basically. So we did the dialogue, and then carried on with the scene and -

 **DC:** We got a little excited, I think.

 **CC:** You got a little excited. I got a concussion.

 **DC:** [laughs] Oh, you did _not_ you big baby. 

 **CC:** No. Yeah, he actually - right here [gestures to forehead]. We crashed heads. I saw stars.

 **DC:** And here I thought those were from the kissing.


	5. Counting Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chris and Darren wait for _Pottermore_ to go up.

Chris dropped back onto the couch and rummaged for the edge of the blanket, dropping his handful of snacks on the cushion beside him and cracking open a fresh drink. “How long?”

“Twenty minutes,” Darren answered instantly, eyes not moving from the glowing screen of the laptop.

Chris’s knee bobbed impatiently in the silence, and he glanced between the laptop screen and Darren’s unblinking expression several times before narrowing his eyes. “You’re playing with the owls, aren’t you?”

“No,” Darren replied, laughing.

“No meaning yes?”

“Shut up,” Darren’s smile spread wider, and he flicked a quick glance to his friend. “What do you think it is?”


	6. Normalcy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chris and Darren share a care together in the UK during the tour.

Chris slid down in the seat, exhausted still and sore from solid plane seats and hard hotel mattresses. He flicked aimlessly at his phone, cheek rubbing into the warm shoulder beside him on instinct while his brain wandered elsewhere. Darren smiled, but didn’t look down, tapping on his knee with his free hand and watching the streets flicker by through tinted windows.

They didn’t speak. They didn’t need to, left sleepy and warm by jet lag and each other’s leaning embrace. The driver didn’t look back.

There weren’t many moments in between the rush and pull of work and granted wishes. Dreams coming true took up plenty of time.

Still, past foreign street signs and brightly smiling faces the car rolled on, utterly invisible in its normalcy. 

Just four wheels and an engine, rolling by another street. Just two best friends curled up together, on their way to work - revelling in spare and quiet moments, and swaps of body heat.


	7. Enthusiasm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darren spots Chris's seamonkey watch on tour.

Chris sighed, leaning back into the bus seat and rubbing his eyes as he tried to will away the exhaustion slowly creeping into his bones. He felt the seat jolt, and a familiar warmth down the side of his body as Darren dropped down next to him and rested his head on Chris’s shoulder. 

“I have no idea where you get your energy from,” Chris grumbled. “It’s some kind of cosmic, electrical, magical unicorn joke at my expense.”

Darren snorted into Chris’s shirt. “Unicorn joke?”

“Shut up, I’m tired,” Chris laughed. 

“What - what is that?”

Chris blinked, and realised Darren’s eyes had locked on his wrist. “Oh,” he lifted his arm. “Seamonkey aquarium.”

Darren’s entire face lit up, and Chris watched him fondly as Darren reverted into a five year old before his eyes. 

“ _Oh_ my god, this is fucking awesome,” Darren said, gripping Chris’s arm for a better view.

_Five year old with a potty mouth, maybe._

“Have you named them ye- OOH LOOK AT THAT ONE!” Darren cried, holding Chris’s hand up to his face and watching the tiny creatures flip about in the water.

Chris knew he didn’t actually have to answer at any point, Darren was busy entertaining himself.

“You could name them after something you love, like, OH WAIT. That one is cuddling that one! Or trying to have sex with it, I don’t know. Hey, you could call them Ron and Hermoine. And Harry can be the one up the top that’s all sad and mopey.”

Chris laughed breathily, sinking his head back into the cushion of the bus seat while Darren played with his hand. The warm fingers curled around his wrist were comforting, and came with free entertainment.

“Aw,” Darren said. “Don’t be sad Harry. You’re the seamonkey who _lived_!”


	8. Wish You Were

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darren misses Chris at the Harry Potter premiere.

Chris flipped over the stack of papers in his hands, scribbling another set of notes frantically in the corner as he skimmed each set of dialogue. He was glad he’d come back early for the work’s sake - but occasionally his heart started with a sharp thrill when he remembered what he was missing.

As if on cue, his phone trilled weakly in his pocket.

_This is absolute fucking mayhem right now. You’d hate it. - DC_

Chris smiled to himself, and texted back quickly.  _Liar_.

His eyes trailed over the page again, and he realised he’d read it twice without taking in a single word. And there was the message tone again.

_I think I scared some locals bouncing. - DC_

Snickering to himself, Chris sat back in his chair. He could picture it perfectly, Darren bounding like a gazelle on Red Bull up the red carpet, swinging and leaping and grinning like a five year old between camera flashes.

His phone chirruped in his hand.

_I know it was you who put the tissues in my suit pockets. - DC_

Chris smirked to himself, and watched his screen carefully, not even making a veiled attempted at resuming his work. On cue, the phone went off again.

_Thank you. - DC_

Chris nodded, and texted back before he put the phone down and heaved a sigh. He pushed his glasses up his nose absently and refocused on the script in his hand, finding his pen and twirling it between long fingers.

When his phone went off again, this time he jumped. He narrowed his eyes at it, teetering on his knee, and flicked a finger across the screen. A sad smile graced his lips, and he quietly cursed everything about his life choices as he read the text.

 

_I wish you were here. - DC_


	9. Pancakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darren's the kind of guy who makes you breakfast the morning after.

Darren rubbed his eyes with a spare hand, still exhausted from the night before. Or, more specifically, the lack fo sleep from the night before.

He tied the apron around his waist and reached for the small jug of batter as the butter sputtered in the pan. With a lazy smile he poured the jug and started huming softly - the first song that came to his head, which may or may not have been _Candyman_.

After a moment he felt arms wrap around his waist, and the press of lips against his shoulder. "Mmm." He tipped his head back, mouth spreading into a grin. "Morning."

"You're naked," Chris laughed into his ear, "and you're making pancakes."

"No, I'm making bluberry pancakes," Darren corrected him teasingly. "The bluberry part makes it _impressive_."

"I thought the naked part was more impressive," Chris murmured, pressing kisses down his spine gently.

Darren's eyes drifted closed at the sensation, and time began to slip away until the rich smell of burnt batter finally reached his nostrils.

"Whoa, burning. Burning!" He flipped the pan away from the hotplate, and Chris recoiled as Darren stepped back quickly, flicking the stove off. "Um."

After a moment of stunned silence, Chris began to giggle violently.

"Well, that didn't go to plan," Darren winced, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Less breakfast," Chris instructed.

"Less breakfast?" Darren asked.

Chris reached out a hand, curling it around the neck strap of the apron and tugging. "More sex."

Darren nodded with a dark grin, and followed him eagerly. "More sex sounds good."


	10. Your Modesty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the tour, Chris is seen wearing boxers over his leotard, under his pants. There's a good reason for it.

**Chris:** This leotard keeps riding up at the sides and there are freaking pictures all over the internet now. Argh. I can’t do this.

 **Darren:** Why don’t you just wear boxers over it?

 **Chris:** …

 **Chris:** Thank you for bringing this up _now_ when I have to go on in ten minutes.

 **Darren:** Aaahha. Okay, hang on.

 **Chris:** Are you … wait, what are you doing?

 **Darren:** You need boxers, right?

 **Chris:** Oh my god. You’re a life saver.

 **Darren:** Yeah, yeah. 

 **Chris:** Pacman, Darren? Really?

 **Darren:** Do you want the fucking boxers or not?

 **Chris:** Yes, yes! Sorry. Gimme.

 **Darren:** Here. 

 **Darren:** The things I do for you, man.

 **Chris:** My modesty and I thank you.

 **Darren:** I’m freeballing for the rest of the night.

 **Darren:** Your modesty can blow me.


	11. Hit and Miss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written after a picture of Darren from AVPS was spotted on Chris's home pin-up board in a YouTube video.

**Interviewer:** How about celebrity crushes?

 **Darren:** Portia de Rossi is pretty gorgeous.

 **Chris:** (nodding)

 **Darren:** But married, obviously.

 **Chris:** Yeah, because _that’s_ your problem.

 **Both:** (laughing)

 **Interviewer:** Chris?

 **Chris:** Ohhh, god. No, I never tell, not anymore. It gets embarrassing.

 **Darren:** I have no idea what you’re talking about.

 **Chris:** You be quiet.

 **Interviewer:** What’s that?

 **Chris:** (grudgingly) Well, I’m a huge _Harry Potter_ fan. So I had seen - I’d watched all of the musicals.

 **Darren:** The ones my company did. Starkid.

 **Chris:** Yes, thank you Captain Exposition.

 **Both:** (laughing)

 **Chris:** But I’d seen both, and I had a - I had this picture of Darren as Harry on my pin-up board and I forgot to - to take it down the first time he visited.

 **Darren:** I thought it was sweet.

 **Chris:** Yeah, that wasn’t awkward at all.

 **Darren:** It was sweet.

 **Chris:** But you know, I got over that. The first time we met, pretty much.

 **Darren:** Oh! (laughing) Thanks. Thanks for that.

 **Chris:** You’re welcome.

 **Darren:** (grinning at Chris)

 **Chris:** (rolling his eyes) See, this is the problem with celebrity crushes. If you’re not careful they will haunt your ass.

 **Darren:** At least you have good taste.

 **Chris:** Well I do _now_.

 **Both:** (laughing)


	12. Helping Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On tour, Chris is having leotard trouble, and Darren lends a hand. (Established relationship)

Chris darted into the change room as quickly as his aching limbs could carry him, stripping down awkwardly and flicking through the different pieces of his costumes until he found the leotard.   
  
He glared at it momentarily, and heaved a sigh before he stripped off his shirt, kicked his jeans away and reached for the band of his boxers.  
  
“Hey,”   
  
Chris felt a warm hand slide across his back slowly, and a tingle as his skin prickled under the kiss Darren pressed to the top of his spine.  
  
“Hnh,” Chris couldn’t manage words, just a tiny noise in response.  
  
Darren chuckled, breath gusting over the back of Chris’s neck. “You sounded like you were whimpering, you alright?”  
  
“Sore,” Chris whined. “Everything hurts.”  
  
Darren narrowed his eyes, sliding his arms around Chris’s waist. “That wasn’t my-“  
  
“Not because of you, idiot,” Chris grumbled amusedly. “Just the dancing. It takes it out of you.”  
  
With a nod, Darren rested his chin on Chris’s shoulder. “You need a hand?”  
  
Chris sighed softly. Then he laughed. “Actually, yeah.”  
  
With a sly grin, Darren took the leotard from his dangling hand and bunched it up quickly, finding the leg holes and dropping into a crouch. Carefully, he reached up and plucked at the edges of Chris’s boxers, drawing them down slowly.  
  
Gripping each calf muscle lightly, he guided Chris’s legs out of them and into the leo before he dragged it up, making sure his fingers pressed into lines of muscle and trembling skin on the way.  
  
Chris moaned softly under his hands as Darren rolled the fabric up his body, cupping and stroking at every angle of him to smooth it down.   
  
After he’d managed to slide both arms into the sleeves Chris slumped slightly into the body behind him, revelling in the sensation as Darren’s hands kept exploring him in light, grazing touches. He could feel an ache building inside at the press of Darren’s mouth against his neck, the gentle swipe of his tongue over his pulse.  
  
“I have to get … dressed,” Chris managed, breathless and a little dizzy.  
  
“I thought that’s what we were doing,” Darren said between kisses, smiling wickedly.  
  
Chris couldn’t argue with that.


	13. We Go Together Like

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the red carpet, the Glee guys get asked about nicknames.

**Interviewer:** It’s the guys of Glee! Hey guys. We have some questions from fans - first up, are there any nicknames used around the set? For each other?

 **All:** (laughs/exchanged glanes)

 **Harry:** We could tell you.

 **Kevin:** But then we’d have to kill you, so.

 **Mark:** Well there is PB.

 **Chris:** (laughing)

 **Darren:** (softly) Oh my god.

 **Interviewer:** PB?

 **Cory:** It’s what Chris calls Darren.

 **Chris:** (reluctantly) “Pocket boyfriend”

 **All:** (laughs)

 **Chris:** (pats Darren on the head) Because he’s pocket sized.

 **Darren:** (smiling/glaring at Chris)

 **Interviewer:** What do you call him in reply?

 **Darren:** (affectionate) “Jerk” mostly.

 **Mark:** Oh my god. PB  & J!

 **All:** (laughs)

 **Cory:** I love it.

 **Chris:** Ohoho, no. That had better not catch on.

 **Darren:** We will end you.

 **Cory:** (straightening to full height) Cute, Darren. Real cute.

 **Chris:** (rubbing Darren’s back) Oh, no, you watch yourself. He’s at least tall enough to punch you in the shins.


	14. Love Songs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before the tour, Chris decides that he and Darren both need haircuts. (Established relationship)

Chris swayed softly from his seat on the couch, sleep-drugged and still half awake. The borrowed hoodie wrapped around his shoulders was downright blissful, like a body-warmed blanket that smelled and felt like Darren in the morning.  
  
It was bright outside the window, and birds chirped eagerly in the trees. The air hung with the lazy smell of coffee and sugar, and Chris absently realised that he didn’t know the actual time.  
  
It was too early to be conscious, he knew that frickin’ much.  
  
Darren leaned back between Chris’s legs from his seat on the floor, and tipped his head up to smile at him. “You still with me?”  
  
Chris nodded haphazardly, eyes drifting open and closed.   
  
Darren chuckled, and Chris pressed both hands into the tangled mess of curls in front of him. He blinked after a moment, and tilted his head, staring at the locks twisted between his fingers.   
  
“We should get haircuts,” he mumbled absently.  
  
Darren pressed his cheek against Chris’s knee, still flipping through the magazine on his lap. “I don’t need a haircut.”  
  
Chris eyed the back of his head for a moment, one eyebrow raised. “You will.”  
  
Darren glanced over his shoulder questioningly, amusement in his eyes.  
  
“We’re on tour for how long?” Chris said, his voice still croaky from the previous day’s rehearsals. “Chances of a break to go get a haircut during that are slim. So you get a haircut now, get it cut a bit shorter than usual so it grows out over the tour. You know how fast your hair grows. This way we don’t have a,” he waved a hand at Darren’s head, “ _Harry freakin’ Potter_ type situation by the time we get back.”  
  
Darren chuckled fondly at the reference, and went back to cuddling Chris’s leg. “Alright, we’ll get haircuts.”  
  
“I love that it doesn’t take much to convince you of anything,” Chris mumbled, smiling.  
  
“Hey, you’re the smart one,” Darren replied, dragging himself to his feet and planting a kiss messily on the side of Chris’s face. “I’m just pretty.”  
  
“Oh, you’re _hilarious_ ,” Chris drawled.  
  
Grinning, Darren gripped his arms and helped him up off the couch. Chris let himself be dragged, purposefully overbalancing and draping himself over Darren.  
  
Darren staggered back a step, laughing. “ _Chriiis_ ,” he chided. “Come on, we have to go. You’re awake enough to process complicated decisions about my hair, you’re awake enough for us to go. We’re running late anyway.”  
  
“We don’t get enough time,” Chris uttered blearily into Darren’s shoulder, still hanging bonelessly over him.  
  
“We will, on tour,” Darren offered softly. “Plenty of time.”  
  
“I hate it when you’re painfully optimistic,” Chris muttered.  
  
“You love it when I’m painfully optimistic,” Darren countered, pressing both hands into Chris’s back and rocking him gently.  
  
“True,” Chris smiled. “Maybe you got that backwards. Maybe you’re the smart one.”  
  
Darren laughed, and squeezed him tight, before he pulled back and let their eyes meet. “Well you _are_ very, very pretty.”   
  
“I bet you say that to all the boys,” Chris sighed playfully.  
  
With a fond smile, Darren kissed him gently on the nose.   
  
“Only the ones who sing me love songs.”


	15. Causes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written after set reports of Darren and Chris holding eachother's faces between filming.

“Cut. Okay, reset guys.”

There was a rush of sound and the rattle of metal as the cameras pulled back for the next shot, and Darren tapped absently at his thighs to a drumbeat only he could hear.

Chris swayed, just barely rocking on his feet as they waited to be called to their marks.

Darren glanced at him for a moment, and grinned. Easy as ever, he reached out and cupped his hands on either side of Chris’s face, cool fingers pressing along what suddenly felt like burning skin. Chris gave him a curious look.

“Your face is red, from the wind,” Darren said softly, under his breath.

Chris gave him the barest of smiles, just a grateful little tweak at the corner of his mouth, and Darren let his eyes drop there for a moment.

He jolted slightly when he realised what he’d done, heat flushing his own cheeks scarlet.

With a sly smile, Chris reached his hands out quickly and mimicked Darren’s position, covering both cheeks gently.

“Your face is red,” he explained, his tone teasing. “From the violent lack of subtlety.”

Darren huffed out a laugh, hot breath gusting down Chris’s wrist, and they simply stood together - cradling each other’s faces - lost in between the voices and specters of the night.


	16. Mighty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chris visits Darren at Coachella.

Darren loped quietly past the broad metal fence and down the path to where the dirt and gravel weren’t really a road anymore, just a sea a footprints. The light was disappearing from the sky, and he didn’t have much time. Just five minutes, the text said.

“Where are you?” he called out in the loudest whisper he could manage, still full of adrenaline and trying not to draw any attention.

Chris’s shoulders and head popped out from behind an iron gate, and Darren grinned at the familiar blue-rimmed sunglasses. “Hey!”

Eyes skimming the crowd beyond the road as he took off his sunnies, Chris waved and watched as Darren came towards him in a bounding run. 

Shaking his head affectionately, Chris smiled. “You look like you’re having a good time.”

“Oh, it’s awesome,” Darren enthused, waving his arms grandly. “I feel like I’m home, man.”

“I can see that,” Chris’s eyes swept down over Darren’s chest, bronze and shimmering with sweat in the evening light.

Darren smirked a little when he caught the path of Chris’s gaze. “You should’ve come with us, the guys were amazing.”

“So I heard,” Chris nodded at the stage in the distance.

“You staying?” Darren asked, hopeful.

 “I’ve gotta catch up with Lea, she’s already heading back, so I’ll see you later?”

Without warning, Darren was suddenly draped over him, sun-warmed and smelling like the earth after rain. “See you later, then,” he said, hot breath gusting against Chris’s neck.

“Paint!” Chris objected, nudging the other man away gently, “paint and sweat all over me, stop it!” 

Grinning, Darren tightened his grip, squeezing Chris against his chest and rubbing their bodies together. Chris’s squawk of outrage dissolved into fits of giggles as they grappled playfully, and finally Darren let him go.

“There you go,” he said, plucking at the front of Chris’s shirt. “Now you’re one of us. Ready for battle.”

“Oh, is that what it is?” Chris asked, voice high and breathless from laughter as he examined his mussed up shirt. “I was confused by the unicorn stickers. They don’t exactly scream desert soldier.”

“My unicorns are  _mighty_ , I’ll have you know,” Darren assured him in mock-serious tones, stroking the stickers on his arm.

“Uh-huh,” Chris answered with a knowing grin. “Okay, rainbow warrior. Whatever you say.”


	17. Heartstill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written right after New York aired.

The cameras rolled by with a loud mechanical groan as they set up for second coverage, and Darren shifted back into place, draping his arm on the table and resting his chin in his hand.  
  
Chris smiled and nodded at a barking set of instructions aimed in their direction. He gently pushed around his coffee cup on the table before he glanced up, and huffed out a laugh. "You have to stop looking at me like that," he said softly, so only they could hear.   
  
Darren's smile widened slightly. "Like what?"  
  
"You know like what," Chris scolded, his cheeks flushing.  
  
"I'm in character," Darren whispered back, amusement glinting in his eyes.  
  
"Uh-huh, alright," Chris waved a hand at him, and glanced over at the director.  
  
"You know, you really have no idea how easy this scene is for me," Darren offered gently, still smiling lazily at Chris.  
  
Chris's eyes flicked back to him, and he shook his head. "Yeah, well you don't have fifty lines," he said. "You just get to sit there and look pretty."  
  
Darren's eyes flashed for a moment, and Chris felt something uneasy inside him.  
  
"That's..." Darren laughed very, very softly. "That's really not what I meant."  
  
"Okay, here we go guys - and action!"  
  
Chris managed his dialogue seamlessly, as always, but his brain was ticking violently with confusion. What on earth was he talking about?  
  
"I love you," Darren breathed, his brow rising and falling with the ease of it.  
  
 _Oh._  
  
Chris felt his heart stop. His hands shook slightly, but he pulled it in as fast as he could, trying to register the right emotion on his face. Trying to fall back into the scene. But where was his heartbeat, oh god, why wasn't his heart actually beating?  
  
Darren was staring at him with _those_ eyes - those dark eyes set in a gaze that just washed over him in waves of warmth, and truth, and absolute contentment.  
  
He felt his mouth curl into a tiny smile, and the words rushed out of him all too quickly.   
  
"I love you, too."


	18. Talent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Based on spoilers for The First Time, written prior to airing.

Chris was writhing, actually _writhing_ on top of him, hips sliding and black denim seams pressing through too-thin fabric. Darren was already hard, hands slipping over skin and pushing under Chris’s shirt to claw at pale, sweet-damp muscles. 

 Darren was good at this - and he knew it. He was so very, _very_ good at this, but somehow Chris was sucking sound clean out of his lungs. Chris was pinning him - the right angle, the right press of hipbones against skin, and he was holding Darren’s body down into the car seat, dragging that thick zipper over the swell of Darren’s crotch. Darren whimpered lowly, trying to keep his body under control as the scene played on.  
  
In the seemingly infinite wet drag of tongue and teeth, he lost himself. He forgot where his hands were, forgot he had fingers - fingers that were pressing into the firm swell of Chris’s ass until those hips were grinding down into him and everything in his mind burned white-hot.  
  
He was falling apart, and he knew he couldn’t fall apart - not right now. For the life of him, he couldn’t remember _why_.  
  
Like he’d sensed the swing back of the cameras, Chris broke the kiss, moving his lips in tiny, hot bursts across Darren’s jaw down to his ear.  
  
“I could make you, you know,” he whispered darkly, giving a tiny thrust with his hips. “I could make you scream my name.”  
   
Darren’s breath drew so fast he could feel the hiss in his throat.  
  
“I could make you come, and you would love _every second of it_.”  
  
He was good at this. But Chris was better.


	19. Your Day Job

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Behind the scenes for The First Time.

Chris did his best not to hold his breath in the long, quiet moments.

It'd been a hard day, and his bones hurt just finding the strength to stand through the hours. So much of it had dragged on; dance scene and coffee scene and  _everything_  else, and it all blurred together in his mind now. He felt numb.

It was at least the fourth time they'd run the scene, take four, he was sure he'd heard take four. Darren took his hand, and he felt his eyes dip down.

"Put your hand on your heart," Darren said gently, in the voice that could only ever belong to Blaine.

There was a slow hang of space, the unmeasurable distance of it between them that Darren had to swoop and close to meet his mouth. He'd done it every time so gracefully, it'd all been so  _easy_ , like it always was. But Chris was tired, and for the first time the moment felt like it lingered too long. The take was blown.

When Darren moved in there was a quirk to his mouth that wasn't there before, and Chris's hand jolted when Darren let go of it. He wasn't supposed to.  _What?_

His eyes shot wide and he felt the laughter burst out of him as Darren pressed both hands to his face and fluttered a string of noisy kisses across it, brushing their noses back and forth.

"Arggh!" Chris giggled in mock protest, clinging to Darren's sides as they swayed together, shaking with laughter and wrestling playfully as Darren kept trying to plant wet lips to his face.

"Alright, guys, come on, calm down!" the director called. "Reset."

Shoving his co-worker playfully, Chris scrunched up his nose, unable to keep the gleam out of his eyes. "I hate you."

"You love me and you know it," Darren slapped him playfully on the hip.

With a breathy laugh, Chris shook his head. He tried to will the colour out of his cheeks. "Shut up."

Darren's gaze didn't falter. "You best do that for me," he shot back lightly, eyes dropping to Chris's mouth.

Chris swallowed.

"Well, sure, why not," he smiled coyly, stepping into Darren's personal space again as the scene re-set.

"It's not like it's my job or anything."


	20. Taboo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darren and Chris play a game of _Taboo_.

**Chris:**  Um. Uh. Furniture. Ladders. Portia de Rossi.

 

 **Darren:**  SOMETHING YOU CLIMB!

 

 **Chris:**  Yes! Spiders. Uh. Oh! Your first girlfriend.

 

 **Darren:**  Something you're scared of!

 

 **Chris:**  Yep. Oh. Um. Hands. Your tongue.

 

 **Darren:**  This is getting porny.

 

 **Chris:**  Shut up! Hands. Your tongue. Oh. (blushes) Me.

 

 **Darren:**  (soft smile) Something you hold.


	21. Out of Habit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Again, set during the filming of The First Time.

**Director:** CUT

 **Chris:** (to Darren) You can’t actually just peck someone on the lips, can you?

 **Darren:** What?

 **Chris:** Your tongue has a mind of it’s own.

 **Darren:** *eyebrow raise*

 **Chris:** Not like that.

 **Darren:** Oh no, you said it.

 **Chris:** Shut up.

 **Darren:** You went there.

 **Chris:** Shh!

 **Darren:** *licks the side of Chris’s face*

 **Chris:** ARGHH! Off me! What the - DARREN!

 **Darren:** Oops, sorry. This thing has a mind of it’s own, you know.


	22. Understandable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chris and Darren react to the idea of Klaine breaking up or cheating (written in early 2012, pre season four)

**Interviewer:** So we hear there's some relationship drama coming up. Any idea what it might be?

 **Darren:**  Not a single clue.

 **Chris:**  No idea. They keep us in the dark.

 **Darren:**  Literally. They just lock us in a dark room while we're not filming.

 **Chris:**  Mm. Mmm. Tiny cages. Everybody has to hunch over. Except Darren.

 **Interviewer:** And is there any chance there might be a little bit of, dare I say it, maybe some cheating happening? And if there was, who do you guys think would cheat?

 **Darren:**  (without hesitation) Neither.

 **Chris:**  (at the same time) Kurt.

 **Darren:**  Wait, what?

 **Chris:**  I think Kurt would.

 **Darren:**  (emotional voice) Are you serious? (fanning face melodramatically to dry fake tears) How could you.

 **Chris:** Oh my god, it's not like I'm breaking up with  _you_.

 **Darren:**  (still with the fake crying voice) It is. It's exactly like that. Emotionally, Chris, you are breaking us up  _emotionally_.

 **Chris:**  For Taylor Lautner. Kurt would cheat for Taylor Lautner.

 **Darren:**  (instant recomposure) Oh, well that I get.


	23. Origami

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chris and Darren text each other about the missing Ring Scene.

**Message from: DC:** Ring scene got cut fyi be ready for questioning.

 **Message from: Chris:**  It did?

 **Message from: DC:** Yep

 **Message from: Chris:** Well I feel way less guilty now.

 **Message from DC:** guilty??

 **Message from: Chris:**  Never mind.

 **Message from: DC:** You totally stole it didn't you?

 **Message from: Chris:**... no.

 **Message from: DC:** Christopher. Paul. Colfer. you dirty little thief.

 **Message from: Chris:** It was a ring made out of GUM WRAPPERS. I couldn't even make a gum wrapper chain when I was a kid. I only seek to master this sorcery.

 **Message from: DC:** Origami is easy.

 **Message from: Chris:** Oh yeah? Send me a swan.

...

 **Message from: DC:**  [pic of a mangled paper ball vaguely resembling a bird]

 **Message from: Chris:**  That is not a swan.

 **Message from: DC:** What are you talking about? It's majestic.

 **Message from: Chris:**  Is there anything you can't do?

 **Message from: DC:** Origami, apparently.


	24. Interruptions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chris's internet cuts out at the wrong moment.

“What? NO!”

Darren poked his head around the corner of the kitchenette, blinking. “What? What’s wrong?”

“I was - NO! What’s happening right now?” Chris pushed his laptop screen back and forth frantically. “Why is it gone? What? NO!”

Darren slid onto the couch alongside him, peering at the screen. “What happened?”

Chris flicked back to his dashboard and glared. “Blogs are being deleted?”

“Oh, shit,” Darren’s brow shot up.

“It was just getting to the good part! Kurt was gonna-” Chris sighed. “I clicked on the next part and bam. Gone.”

“And by ‘good part’ you mean porn, right?” Darren grinned knowingly.

Chris shifted, deliberately not making eye contact. “Shut up.”

Darren slid a hand across his back, rubbing in small circles. “It’s okay, it’s probably just a mix up. It’ll be back in no time.”

Chris huffed out another sigh and relaxed against Darren’s body, revelling in the warmth and tucking his head into the crook of Darren’s neck. “I know,” he said. “It’s not fair. I just really, really wanted to know what happened next.”

“Well, I can help with that,” Darren smirked. 

Chris laughed, letting his eyes drift closed. “You’d better.”


	25. The Instruments We Play

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A quick story written for Christmas Cards in 2011. (Established relationship)

Chris padded barefoot from the kitchen into his living room, face hovering sleepily over the steam rising from the mug between his curled hands. It was Christmas eve again, and he was home.

The trickle of a piano tune bled across the room in half-step notes, and he smiled softly as he wandered up to the stool. Darren didn’t look up, just shuffled to the side, making room for Chris to slide in next to him as he played on.

After a long, peaceful moment, Chris nuzzled into Darren’s neck, pressing his lips to the curve of his jaw and mumbling against his skin. “Merry Christmas.”

Darren’s mouth peeled into a warm smile, and he twisted to kiss Chris’s forehead. “Merry Christmas.”

Chris reached out to rest his mug on the top of the piano before coiling both arms around Darren’s waist and snuggling down, earning himself a soft chorus of laughter and a messy mash of notes. 

“I can’t play if you keep that up.”

“Ah,” Chris answered softly, nipping along the line of Darren’s neck down to his collarbone. “You mean you can’t play _piano_.”

Darren paused, eyes searching high for a moment as he thought. “Well, the piano is an extremely over-rated instrument,” he said matter-of-factly, lowering the lid over the keys.

Chris smirked. “Is that so?”

“Mmm,” Darren answered simply, smoothing both palms along the planes of Chris’s back.

“Come upstairs,” Chris whispered, his eyes drifting closed as Darren’s lips ghosted over his own. “Come play me, for awhile.”

Darren’s hands slipped down his spine, sliding into his pajamas. He met Chris’s mouth with his own fiercely, breathing in deep and swirling their tongues together as he all but pulled Chris into his lap.

He broke away panting, eyes closed as Chris slipped fingers through his hair.

“You’re all I ever wanted, you know,” he said softly.

“For Christmas?” Chris asked, breathless and amused.

Darren simply smiled, and pressed another tiny kiss to his lower lip. “For always.”


End file.
